According to Heat Vision, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Fargo, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) has been cast as the female lead in Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media‘s upcoming film Gemini Man. The science fiction actioner is directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi) and stars Will Smith (I Am Legend) in dual roles and Clive Owen (Closer, Children of Men) as the lead villain, the head of a cloning program. From David Benioff (Game of Thrones) comes the story of an older NSA agent named Henry (Smith) who is trying to retire. He’s marked for death and learns that the man out to kill him is a younger cloned version of himself. The film will hit theaters on October 4, 2019.
Winstead will be playing an operative working for the same agency as Smith’s character, who is initially ordered to track him and eventually teams up with him. The actress beat out Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, Eastern Promises) for the role.
The rights to Gemini Man were acquired by Skydance after having been in development for two decades. Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Amazing Race) is producing with Don Murphy set to serve as executive producer.
Gemini Man was originally set at Walt Disney Pictures in 1997 from a Darren Lemki pitch, but the film wasn’t able to be made as the VFX were not yet ready to use the same actor for both roles. There were a number of versions of the script from Brian Helgeland and Andrew Niccol and, at one point, the late Tony Scott was in the running to direct.
Are you guys excited for Gemini Man? What do you think of the casting of Mary Elizabeth Winstead? Let us know in the comments.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)